One type of commonly used wiper blade backing strip is illustrated in FIG. 4 of Tilli U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,213. That wiper blade backing strip has opposed, but alternating, claws to grip and hold a wiper blade. One deficiency with that type of wiper blade and backing strip is that the back and forth motion of a windshield wiper can alternately unthread or unweave the wiper blade from the backing strip. The alternating motion of the windshield wiper unhooks the wiper blade alternately from the opposing, but offset claws.
Directly opposed claws, as illustrated in FIG. 5 of Tilli U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,213, help alleviate the unweaving or unthreading problem noted above. See also Oishei U.S. Pat. No. 2,724,139 and Scinta Pat. No. 2,649,605.
Regardless of whether a wiper blade in the prior art had directly opposed or alternating claws, a problem still existed in economically producing by stamping a wiper blade backing strip having some type of reinforcing means. The reinforcing means would be desirable to give the wiper blade backing strip added strength and resiliency, but such reinforcing members cannot be economically produced by stamping.